Tuesday, February 20, 2007

An update on the disintegration within the Anglican Church, specifically in the U.S. Episcopal branch. Continue to pray for the submission of the Episcopal church not only to the authority of the Anglican leadership, but more importantly to the authority of scripture, which they are presently, blatantly disregarding, all of this that the unity of believers that Christ prayed for may be achieved.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Michael Spencer of internetmonk.com has been doing a series of posts on Evangelical Anxieties, and in this, his sixth part, he explores the Evangelicals' fears in relation to culture. This article brings to mind several topics that I've been pondering of late.N. T. Wright, a fine Anglican New Testament scholar, fills his writings with a theme of the true identity of the Kingdom of God; as he says in The Lord and His Prayer:

Think of the vision at the end of Revelation. It isn't about humans being snatched up from earth to heaven. The holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down from heaven to earth. God's space and ours are finally married, integrated at last. That is what we pray for when we pray 'thy Kingdom come'.

The kingdom is not something to look forward to as an escape from the hardships and pains of the present reality; that would be gnosticism, not Christianity. Rather, the kingdom is what was initiated in the Incarnation, it is God's place finally being integrated into man's place, and it continues today in the church.Yet this integration, this coming of God's kingdom that we seek when voicing the Lord's Prayer, is hindered today by the fears of the Body of Christ and the attempts at a sort of isolationism by it. This can be well seen in the Evangelical community, and I believe that internetmonk is hitting the bullseye with this anxiety towards culture, which serves as a spur pricking the side of the Evangelical intent in regards to this withdrawl from the world, or, the darkness that those withdrawing are called to be a light in, to bring the Incarnation into. This then would be a very dangerous anxiety for a people living under the Great Commission.I thought the article was really good, obviously, or I wouldn't have brought it up here. So I hope you give it a read and give the whole idea some thought.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

This is, in belated honor of the ever-appreciated Valentine's Day, a little quote from Søren Kierkegaard's Works of Love:

Your friend, your beloved, your child, or whoever is the object of your love, has a claim upon its expression also in words when it really moves you inwardly. The emotion is not your possession but the other's. The expression of it is his due, since in the emotion you belong to him who moves you and makes you conscious of belonging to him. When the heart is full you should not grudgingly and loftily, short-changing the other, injure him by pressing your lips together in silence; you should let the mouth speak out of the abundance of the heart; you should not be ashamed of your feelings and still less of honestly giving to each one his due.

Monday, February 12, 2007

A friend of mine trying to raise support--amongst Christians mainly--for a group increasing awareness of child soldiers across the globe was meeting apathy at every turn. So naturally, he told us we needed to "wake the fuck up!!"

So perhaps the world is waking up a little bit today. CNN released a piece today concerning children forced to be combatants in conflicts across the world. This is an issue that's received a little more attention already in the last year thanks to the Invisible Children campaign. This movement has been focused particularly on the children forced to involvement in the rebel warfare in Euganda, but it certainly helps to raise awareness of the problem in general.

I think that Kasie was perfectly justified in his indignation towards our apathy. The church--people--cannot idly watch these atrocities, or others, continue as they have. Whether this, the (RED) campaign against HIV/AIDS in Africa, theHungersite.com, or any other of a number of such groups(see sidebar links for more), the kingdom of God must fight along side against the horrors that are constantly happening in our world. We are not called merely to preach or convert--far from it. Christ, while on earth, fed people; He healed the sick and lame. He met needs. So it was also with the church in Acts, sharing all things together so that none were lacking.Christians, especially in day when we're so closely scrutinized, cannot afford to stop being the love and the hands of Christ to the world. This is one of our commissions, and indeed it is part of the Great Commission in that it is among the best ways we have to show Christ to the world.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."Kingdom work is not going to church or listening to Christian radio. It is working as Christ did, in the name of Christ. Loving people, and doing so in a more material way than is easiest or most convenient to us.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

As this book review is quick to point out, you don't hear a lot about Jacques Ellul these days. Heck, all I really know is that 1)he was French(duh) 2)he was a theologian and 3)he's a favorite of my Dad's. The former two tell me little; the latter speaks volumes.So when I noticed the book review here of some of Ellul's work, it caught my eye. Check it out; you never know when the writer who will speak to you the most in life will decide to drop a quote or a manuscript in your hands, so always keep a watch out.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Daniel at Gloria Deo has written an interesting post on our resolve to fight the War and the effect of the media on it all. I thought the whole thing, with it's juxtaposition of Iraq and several historical U.S. wars, was interesting and would be a good read for anyone. The post.

Another interesting read on war in general is the lecture given during WWII by C. S. Lewis entitled Why I Am Not A Pacifist, which, though it may be in one of the several other anthologies of his essays and lectures, can be found in The Weight of Glory, for those interested.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Ralph Winter Productions is producing a bigscreen adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel The Screwtape Letters with Philip Anschutz's Walden Media, reports Variety. The film will be produced via Walden's Bristol Bay Productions (Ray, Sahara). More...

Well I hate to post twice in such quick succession, but this I just read and could not pass up. The Screwtape Letters... the Movie. It would be a Walden Media release, you know, the guys who released 2005's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe? This is interesting news, but also just an interesting concept, as The Screwtape Letters hardly lends itself to the big screen. There's an audio version of the book out there narrated by Monty Python's John Cleese, and if I'm not mistaken, several stage versions(one with Kelsey Grammer as Screwtape?) which would perhaps give a better idea as to how exactly this may be adapted. I'm a little fuzzy on the details there; I've only ever read the book myself.That being said, it's a great book, and it is Lewis(one of his best), so this is certainly interesting news.Again, more info at Comingsoon.net.

About Me

I've been serving as a United Methodist pastor in Mississippi since 2012, and my wife and I currently live in Sumrall, MS. I received my M. Div. from Duke Divinity School and a B.A. in Philosophy with a concentration in Religious Studies from LSU. I love to read and ponder, and on the blog I try to convert that into a good word for folks. Some individuals who have helped shape me over the years include C. S. Lewis, N. T. Wright, Charles Williams, and George Lucas, among many others.